I hope Thrawn messes with a fundamenetal and (hopefully) previously untouched mechanic in the game. Maybe deployments, activation, or who knows.
Here, a crazy idea:
You get to choose initivaitve, regardless of points totals, and you get to see your opponent's objective choices beforehand.

Against MSU, ECM only helps you against one attack. I think it's really your call, although I will say that RBDs will be more entertaining, especially when your opponents see a double Christmas Tree list, with Motti and RBDs.

I think that a lot of the "thematic" idea, is that a ship that isn't moving doesn't generate enough power to use Redirects, Braces and Contains. And because it isn't moving, you can't evade. Think of a car, and a car battery. If you use the battery for radio and stuff when the car is parked, the battery will die and you won't be able to start the car.
But, mainly, that rule is there to avoid people parking a ship without penalty.

I'm rather against customization of squads. Maybe an upgrade called Veteran, that gives a small benefit. Can only go on a generic, and isn't unique. But a bunch of upgrades would be too much to track. If you want big games of individually upgraded ships, X-Wing Epic is the way to go.